Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Through the first 10 games of the season, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team had scored just 15 goals.

Scoring goals had not been one of the Cardinals' strong suits.

And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, a 28-day layoff didn't bring SMU's offense out of its early-season hibernation.

For the fourth time this season, the Cardinals failed to score a goal Saturday evening as Lake Forest handed SMU a 4-0 nonconference setback at the SMU Ice Arena.

"It's a little frustrating — we're doing a good job of controlling the puck in the offensive zone, we're just not creating very many good scoring opportunities," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk, whose team has been outscored 13-5 in its last five games — a span in which SMU has gone 1-3-1. "We had a lot of opportunities to drive to the net, but instead we either passed off or shot too early.

"There's no question we've got to find a way to generate a little more offense."

Nichole Greco got the Foresters on the board early in the first period, scoring the first of Lake Forest's two powerplay goals.

Robyn Slater netted the first of her two goals at the 7:17 mark of the second period and Emily Blegen pushed the Foresters' lead to 3-0 five minutes later. Slater closed out the scoring midway through the third period, tipping tipping Blegen's shot past SMU goalie Missie Meemken (St. Cloud, Minn.).

"I'm sure everyone's pressing a little bit right now, trying to do whatever they can to get our offense going," said Ryhorchuk, whose team plays host to the Foresters again Sunday afternoon. "We did some good things out there — it wasn't like we were outplayed that badly.

"The difference was, when we made a mistake, (Lake Forest) capitalized on it. When they made a mistake, we didn't make them pay for it."